A little barefoot action...

Monday, April 19, 2010

I feel so lucky. I know what a struggle it can be for many people to exercise and lately, I can’t wait for the chance to get into the woods for my next run. ‘Born to Run’ is helping to have that affect, but I’m just having fun right now and that’s the key to sticking with any program.

The book is bringing back such fond memories of my earliest running experiences and why I ran. I mean…I always ran. That’s what we did when we were growing up. Our games revolved around it. Keep-away, running bases, tag, capture the flag – whatever it was, we were running. Then I found out I could really run when I went out for ninth grade track and the entire squad was sent on a 5 mile run. We ran a one mile loop and by the third lap I was running up the heels of the cross country guys. I’d always thought of myself as a sprinter, but my body was reporting otherwise.

That summer, I went into the woods behind our property and, in a largely open field, I built my own track. I had to cut down small saplings, trim back thorn bushes and other brush, but I ended up with a semi-circular trail of around 440 yards. I’d go out there in my used adidas and run laps as fast as I could. I loved flying over the ground, branches whipping me in the face, curving with the gyrations in my trail and aiming for a new pr. Nobody watched me and no one cared I was there. I did it only because I loved to run…fast. I had kind of forgotten that phase…until I started reading the book.

And now I was going to run the trails again. After two straight days around an hour of running, I planned to back off some. I did my off-trail course down to the marsh and ended up back at the car in around 36 minutes. With all of the reading I’d been doing about the benefits of barefoot running, I had decided I would give it a try. There is a large, grassy field where I park, so I immediately took off my shoes and socks and for the next 5 minutes, circled the field at a jog.

If nothing else good came of it, I loved the feel of the slightly damp grass on my feet. It had been so long since I’d run barefoot on grass that I had totally forgotten how good it could feel. I circled the field being careful to spot rocks, bottles or any other obstacles to tender feet, but encounter none. After 5 minutes, I determined I’d had enough. No sense in taking chances on injuries while experimenting with something designed to help.

Later that night, I could tell the barefoot running had done its job. My arches, ankles, and calves were all sore in that way unused muscles are when you’ve ignored them for a spell. I’d let them rest for 48 hours and give them 7 minutes at the conclusion of the next run.

Run duration: 41 minutes.

Training Heart Rate: 140

Calories burned during workout: 675.